Pentagon not to compensate for civilian casualties
WASHINGTON, April 16: The US Defence Department does not plan to financially compensate Iraqi civilians wounded during the US-led invasion of their country or the families of those killed, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
The Pentagon also will not count how many Iraqi civilians were victims of what the military refers to as “collateral damage” despite a decision by Congress allowing compensation under the 2.5 billion dollars it allotted for humanitarian relief and reconstruction in Iraq. The money could also be used to compensate Iraqis for damage to property.
Before falling, the Iraqi government put the civilian death toll at more than 1,200 as of April 3.
The military believes it would be too difficult to accurately determine how many people died because of problems related to distinguishing between US or Iraqi military fire, the official said.
“It’s nearly impossible to do because in some instances its impossible to tell who has been actually killed and whether that person is indeed a civilian or not,” said the official, referring to the alleged practice of Saddam Hussein’s regime of dressing military personnel in civilian clothes.
Congress passed the measure on Saturday, calling on President George W. Bush’s administration to identify families that need to be financially compensated for losses suffered during the war.
WAR COST: The war in Iraq has cost the United States more than 20 billion dollars so far and is expected to cost about two billion dollars a month for the rest of the year, the Pentagon’s chief financial officer said Wednesday.
The Defence Department expects to cover the costs of the war with a 62 billion dollar boost in its 2003 budget approved by Congress, said Undersecretary of Defence Dov Zakheim.
“The war has cost in the region of about 20 billion so far, actually over that,” he said.
That amount includes more than 10 billion dollars for military operations, three billion dollars for munitions and the rest to maintain and support a force of some 300,000 troops in the region, he said.
It also includes 1.4 billion dollars to repay allies such as Pakistan and Jordan for assistance to US forces.
The costs tracked with Pentagon estimates, which were based on an expectation that the war would be intense but relatively brief, he said.
“A rough estimate of the monthly costs of the war from here on out — and obviously not the same degree of intensity — ... is approximately two billion dollars a month,” he said.
The 62 billion dollars was the Defence Department’s share of an almost 80 billion dollar supplemental appropriation that President George W. Bush signed Wednesday at the White House.
“Right now as we are looking at, we believe the 62 billion is going to go a very, very long way to the end of the fiscal year,” he said.——dpa/AFP
